NEWS

Earlier this year, Borough President Oddo met with a handful of city and state agencies to discuss reducing the duration of traffic jams caused by minor accidents or breakdowns.

During this meeting, BP Oddo and his staff learned of a New York State DOT effort to mitigate the traffic effects of simple breakdowns -running out of gas, an overheated engine or a flat tire- by having special trucks dedicated to patrolling certain corridors with the ability to get these vehicles moving again.

Known as H.E.L.P. trucks (Highway Emergency Local Patrol), these vehicles are equipped to deal with simple breakdown issues, and since they obviate the need to wait for city DOT tow trucks, get traffic moving again in a fraction of the time. This will be a free service for motorists.

“I’m happy to report that Director Pichardo has heard our call, for which we express enormous appreciation, and agrees that H.E.L.P. trucks would be a benefit in the I-278 corridor,” BP Oddo said. “She has directed her staff to evaluate the I-278 corridor to identify segments of this Interstate where we can achieve the greatest benefits with the H.E.L.P. Program.”

The H.E.L.P. Program will also undertake a review of the 2015 incident data from their Joint Traffic Management Center (JMTC) to assist in determining where the H.E.L.P. program would be most feasible for implementation.